Money? Sex? Power?
Only saints or idiots have not wanted them at one time or another.
Yet, I doubt that any one of us has not, at least once, said, “I’d give anything for a good night’s sleep.”
I was thinking about that recently when I encountered an interesting document created by Consumer Reports Magazine (click here). The report does an excellent job of helping you understand the different types of insomnia and treatments.
I highly recommend reading the entire report before taking ANY medication or using any remedy, even the one I will tell you about below. I am not any kind of a medical doctor but I know that chronic insomnia might be a symptom of something really serious that needs a professional diagnosis.
BTW – this is NOT a commercial. I am not selling anything. I’m just telling you about something that works for me and has worked for people around the world for thousands of years.
When I lived in a 3rd world country, I learned a simple, cheap, herbal method of getting that precious good night’s sleep.
I use a remedy common in all the world’s tropical zones, such as the Caribbean, where I first encountered it, and in India where I saw it perfected.
Off the shelf of almost any ethnic market, I buy a small, plastic wrapped package (usually no more than 1/2 a pound) of Tamarind fruit that has been crushed to a thick, almost brick-like, pad of jelly.
The brick is usually slightly smaller than a slice of bread and not quite as thick.
The usual cost is $2 to $3 for that package and yields about 20 servings of a tea. When you unwrap it, be prepared that the brick will be sticky. I store the unused part in a ziplock bag.
I cut off a piece about the length and width of one of those sugar packets they put on restaurant tables. I put that chunk into 14/16 ounces of vigorously boiling water for 8/10 minutes.
I am a large guy (six foot tall and well over 200 pounds) . You may find that a smaller chunk and less water will be right for you. The boiling time will remain the same.
This will make a clear, reddish tea. It will almost look like wine. Strain it (to take out the exhausted tamarind fruit) into a large cup. Throw away the fruit caught by the strainer.
Start sipping the tea while it is a hot as you can stand it. Keep sipping as fast as you can handle the heat. The heat is an important element in relaxing you.
The flavor of tamarind is an interesting mixture of a light sweetness – if the fruit was mature when it was crushed – plus a mild astringency – meaning it will pucker you a bit, but not as much as lemon or clove. I usually stir a teaspoon of honey into it.
Before I finish drinking the hot tea, I start to feel a slight glow. Within in five or ten minutes of finishing the cup, I have the urge to yawn.
I do not feel sleepy or slowed down. I do not lose any alertness. I feel that if I changed my mind about going to bed, I could do that without any impairment.
But when I lie down in a comfortable bed and close my eyes, sleep takes over. For me, it comes so gently that I do not even notice I’m falling asleep.
When I awake, I do not have the drug hangover that sleeping pills cause. By the time I have my usual coffee, I am ready for the world.
If money problems are what were keeping you awake, you will have the satisfaction, the next morning, of knowing that you saved yourself the cost of those drugs.
One final but important comment and advice. For some people, Tamarind may act as a very gentle overnight laxative. Plan time in the morning to deal with that.
G’nite . . . yaaaawwwwwn.